Factoring gives your business a helpful cash injection by freeing up money from unpaid invoices the moment they're raised.

Factoring companies pay up to 95% of the total value of an invoice, usually within 24 hours. They take full control of your sales ledger to ensure debts are settled promptly and in full. In return, you pay a small percentage fee. But how to choose between lenders? The only way is to compare.

What else is on this page?

Ashley Business Finance

Ashley Business Finance specialises in small business factoring for companies based in England and Wales — even those with a poor credit history. Ashley Business Finance's tailored packages evolve with your business, allowing you to access more money upfront as your turnover grows. Ashley Business Finance's services include a “confidential” option, which means that your clients won’t know that you’re using a factoring company, and a dedicated support team for a familiar and personalised service.

Ashley Business Finance offers costs that are fixed and transparent — so there are no nasty surprises down the line. Ashley Business Finance does not charge for early repayment and (almost uniquely among the providers in our list) it actually welcomes applications from newly established businesses. So if you’ve been turned down by other companies, it’s well worth giving Ashley Business Finance a go.

To be eligible for Ashley Business Finance invoice factoring, you'll need to be turning over around £50,000 or more per year.

Skipton Business Finance

As one of only a handful of companies eligible for the government backed Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme, Skipton Business Finance is a popular choice for small businesses. There's no confidential option, that's true. However, Skipton Business Finance deserves credit for being one of the only lenders to actually list costs on its website.

With Skipton Business Finance, there's no discount fee. You'll pay only a simple service charge, which reduces in line with your turnover. Plus, Skipton Business Finance knows how hard it is to grow a business. That means you can rest assured in the knowledge that your service charge won’t suddenly jump into a higher band if you fail to reach your expected turnover.

To be eligible for Skipton Business Finance invoice factoring, you'll need to be turning over around £300,000 or more per year.

Invoice factoring frees up time and money, allowing you to focus on growing your business

Metro Bank SME Finance

Metro Bank acquired the highly regarded SME Finance in August 2013 to bolster its services for businesses. Unlike many of its competitors, Metro Bank SME Finance focuses its efforts on providing the best possible invoice discounting and factoring services. So the beauty of this merger is that Metro Bank customers can now enjoy access to better financial services with the expert knowledge of a specialist invoice factoring company.

Supplier Rating : ★★★★★

Metro Bank SME Finance promises to review your application within the hour. And, if approved, you can expect to see funds landing in your account within 12 hours. You can cancel your contract with Metro Bank SME Finance at any point, providing you offer 28 days notice.

To be eligible for Metro Bank SME Finance invoice factoring, you'll need to be turning over around £100,000 or more per year.

MarketInvoice

MarketInvoice has helped thousands of UK businesses to unlock funding for growth, since it was founded in 2011. MarketInvoice offers a range of invoice discounting solutions – on a selectiveand whole turnover basis. MarketInvoice also prides itself on customer service, and to great effect – it's rated “Excellent” there, with an impressive 4.8/5 rating.

Supplier Rating : ★★★★★

There’s no denying MarketInvoice's pedigree, either. CEO Anil Sticker knows a thing or two about entrepreneurship, having featured in Forbes Magazine’s “30 under 30” and won several awards for business innovation. Funding through MarketInvoice is provided by investors from around the globe, including the UK Government-owned British Business Bank.

To be eligible for MarketInvoice invoice factoring, you'll need to be turning over around £100,000 or more per year.

RBS FacFlow

With a history stretching back almost 300 years, there are few invoice factoring companies in the UK that can match the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) for experience. RBS FacFlow offers extensive discounting and factoring services. But be warned – you'll be assigned a dedicated ‘relationship manager’, who may rigorously check up on your ability to pay fully, and on time.

FacFlow – Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) easy-to-use online system – allows you to access your account at any time of the day or night, wherever you are in the world.

RBS FacFlow's smooth, intuitive customer experience also lets you upload new invoices, monitor outstanding invoices and access available funds with the click of a mouse. You’ll be hard pressed to find an invoice financing company that delivers a smoother customer experience than RBS FacFlow.

Bibby Financial Services

Bibby Financial Services is a global invoice financing company with a client base of 7,000 businesses and many awards to its name. Bibby Financial Services won the coveted “Best Factor and Invoice Discounter” gong at the 2017 National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers Awards, and consistently ranks in The Sunday Times’ list of the 100 best companies to work for. Bibby Financial Services also specialises in providing tailored invoice factoring solutions to UK businesses in the construction industry.

So, when Bibby Financial Services claims to have a “highly motivated and dedicated team of experts” on hand to to assist with your every invoice factoring need, it's not kidding. And its Trustpilot score backs this up — 4.7/5, from close to 400 reviews. That’s a seriously impressive score, especially for one of the largest factoring companies in the the world.

To be eligible for Bibby Financial Services invoice factoring, you'll need to be turning over around £100,000 or more per year.

Aldermore Invoice Finance

In a sector where much is made of “heritage”, it’s refreshing that Aldermore Invoice Finance boasts about being an entirely “legacy-free” UK bank. Founded in 2009, Aldermore Invoice Finance won “Invoice Finance Provider of the Year” at the coveted Credit Today awards just six years later. In the five years since, Aldermore Invoice Finance has only gone from strength to strength, picking up a further 21 awards for services and innovation to date. What's next?

Having problems getting approved for invoice factoring? Aldermore Invoice Financeapproves nine out of 10 applications. Aldermore Invoice Finance will assign you a “relationship manager”, who will work with you to tailor its factoring solutions to your specific needs. But businesses change, they evolve and grow. Aldermore Invoice Finance recognises this, offering regular reviews of your contract to ensure that you're getting the best possible value for money.

To be eligible for Aldermore Invoice Finance invoice factoring, you'll need to be turning over around £60,000 or more per year.

Close Brothers

Close Brothers is an invoice factoring company catering to large and medium-sized businesses. When you apply for factoring, Close Brothers looks at your business as a whole. Close Brothers takes into account factors such as business potential and objectives, not just your industry and turnover. And Close Brothers' close attention to detail extends to its customer relations. A dedicated “client manager” will liaise with you regularly to ensure you’re getting the most out of the relationship.

Supplier Rating : ★★★★★

Close Brothers is one of only two companies on our list to clearly outline fees on their website. Of course rates vary from business to business, but it’s nice to have a ballpark figure as a starting point. Close Brothers offers both invoice factoring and discounting. Bad debt protection (insurance against clients who don’t pay, or become insolvent) is available as a bolt-on.

To be eligible for Close Brothers invoice factoring, you'll need to be turning over around £250,000 or more per year.

Hitachi Capital UK

Hitachi Capital UK is one of the largest factoring companies in the world. With 800,000 customers, Hitachi Capital UK caters for businesses of all sizes — from startups to multinationals. Hitachi Capital UK's service is also fully confidential, while its three month rolling contracts and six-month trial period offer flexibility. Should you wish to leave Hitachi Capital UK this trial period you can, without notice.

Hitachi Capital UK represents a fresh approach to invoice financing. Designed to simplify the process for small businesses, you'll pay a one off fee of £250, plus a percentage of the sales invoice value. Hitachi Capital UK's fees start as low as 0.45% for businesses with a turnover of more than £10 million, rising to as much as 4% for small businesses.

And to top it all off, Hitachi Capital UK is even one of our top invoice factoring services for recruitment agencies. With that kind of flexibility and range, it’s no wonder Hitachi Capital UK is one of the UK’s most popular invoice factoring companies.

To be eligible for Hitachi Capital UK invoice factoring, you'll need to be turning over around £50,000 or more per year.

HSBC Invoice Finance

HSBC Invoice Finance operates on a global scale. Its multi-lingual, UK-based team are able to collect invoices from most countries around the world. HSBC Invoice Finance's customers do not also have to bank with it, but it often works out to be more cost-effective to do so. HSBC Invoice Finance's minimum contract term is one year with a three month notice period.

Supplier Rating : ★★★★★

And, if you're set on going with the tried-and-trusted, easily recognisable brand of a big high street bank, your research doesn't have to stop with HSBC. Barclays, Lloyds, and RBS are among the other banks offering invoice factoring services to businesses in the UK.

Customer base — if you're over-reliant on a single customer, you may find it more difficult to get approved.

Quality of customers — invoice factoring companies look into your customers' credit history to determine how likely they are to default on payment.

Will my customer know if I’m using a factoring company?

The answer is: they don’t have to. The best factoring companies offer a ‘confidential’ service, where they chase payment under your company name. If keeping factoring a secret from customers is important to you be sure to mention this early on in your negotiations with providers.

Invoice discounting

Most invoice financing companies offer both invoice factoring and discounting services. The principle is the same: you are paid a percentage of the invoice upfront, before the customer pays. The key difference is that with invoice discounting you are responsible for chasing payment. This means more work for you, but lower fees in return

Invoice discounting is usually only available to larger companies with a dedicated finance team. Some providers will consider small businesses, though, so it’s worth asking the question to see if invoice discounting could save your company money.

How do I choose the best factoring company for my business?

The only way to ensure you’re getting the best deal for your business is to compare quotes from multiple invoice factoring companies. To do that, simply fill in this form and receive tailored, free, same-day quotes from up to four different invoice factoring providers.

The questions asked are designed to match you with the most suitable factoring companies for your business. No hidden fees. No obligation to buy. No hassle. Only the finest invoice factoring around.

The whole process takes less than two minutes, so it’s guaranteed to save you time — and it could save you up to 40% on factoring, too.

Rob writes mainly about the payments industry, but also brings industry-specific knowledge of CRM software, social media monitoring, and invoice finance. When not exasperating his editor with bad puns, he can be found relaxing in a sunny corner, with a beer and a battered copy of Dostoevsky.